[LAU] [ot] a little help with bootloaders...

[TheOther]

Julien Claassen wrote:
> Hello!
>    I'm having a bit of a worry over an istallation: I have a computer with a 
> windows on the first partition, unfortuintely it must remain there. Then on 
> the space behind it I want to install my Linux. How should I go about 
> bootloaders?
>    I could install grub in the MBR right up front, but then I should take care 
> of win's bootloader, in any case win is known to simply overwrite another 
> bootloader, if it feels like updating. Wouldn't really want to risk it. Is 
> there a way to put grub at the start of the Linux partition and make it known 
> to win, tat there's another bootloader sitting there, waiting to be started?
>    Kindest regards and THANKS!
>                Julien

Hello Julien,

You didn't say which version of Windows you're running.  With Win95 
and Windows NT, I had no trouble installing Linux with GRUB using the 
Master Boot Record (MBR).  As has been said before, install Windows 
first and Linux second.

But when I got my laptop with Windows Vista pre-installed, this did 
not work.  After Linux was installed, Vista would not boot.  I did a 
Vista reinstall and forgot about Linux on that machine.

On my desktop I had a SCSI drive and an IDE drive.  Windows was on the 
IDE drive and Linux was on the SCSI drive.  I was able to Dual-boot 
with Win95 or Windows NT with Linux, but I settled on a much easier 
solution which didn't risk the Windows installation or the Linux 
installation.

By having 2 drives in the desktop, I used the BIOS to select which 
hard drive to boot first.  If I wanted Windows, I booted the IDE 
drive.  If Linux, then I booted the SCSI drive.

In Linux I could view the entire Windows drive which was formatted in 
FAT or FAT32.  The reverse was not true since I was using EXT3 for the 
Linux drive.

If you only have 1 hard drive, then the link to the howto already 
provided should get you there, unless you have a Vista installation. 
If you do have Vista, then I'd do more research to see if anyone is 
dual-booting Vista and Linux.

Best,
Stephen.